Dare focusing

How many times a week, if not daily, do you not get calls from sales persons who convincingly tell you how many their magazine actually reaches out to and what effect an ad in that same journal would have on your sales. I once got a call from one of Sweden's leading tabloid newspapers. The salesman informed me correctly that many of our existing and potential customers on the Swedish market actually read this paper. With that being said, he wanted me to know what true potential an ad in this tabloid would have for us on finding new buyers of our products on the Swedish market.
As a marketing manager at a company that provides tools for scientists within a niched field of research, my question back to him was if he really believed that our customers would be receptive to the message in an ad from us in the tabloids? My experience is that it would have been wasted money. For a message to come through, it is important to find the right medium in which the recipient is most likely to be receptive to the information. A scientific journal is a more appropriate forum in our case. For us, where the recipient most likely do not even read the printed edition, but instead scans the electronic version of the same for what is published in his or her own field of research, an ad in the printed edition would probably pass unnoticed.
The same way you evaluate where to spend your money best, you should evaluate how to spend your time most effectively. The reasons for a potential customers to choose a different technology than the one you have to offer is important information for you not to waste time on so-called cold leads. It is equally important to be aware of how the products fit the user needs and why customers choose to work with your products, as it is to know why in other customer situations the products fit less. Resources are always a limitation. Hence it is important to decide how to spend them, in terms of time and money, to get the biggest bang for the buck.